Prince of Peace Catholic Church

Chesapeake, Virginia

Group provided contract documents for this 24,740 square foot addition. Our Design Team was selected to design a 12-classroom addition, increase the sanctuary by 300 seats, increase the common areas by 50%, provide a new commercial kitchen, and renovate the administrative spaces. We held a Design Charrette at the Church and the Church Members’ comments were incorporated in the final schematic design. A major design issue was adding sanctuary seating to an octagonal structure that was not designed for expansion. The desire to integrate the additional seating into the body of the worship space required incorporating the structural joists as a design element. The end result was a blending of the new and existing sanctuary space that allowed for the family atmosphere of the sanctuary to remain intact. Materials were selected for their low maintenance. The original Parish Hall and the later Sanctuary addition were stucco or EIFS. Each product was showing age and the effects of little maintenance. The construction for the new exterior walls for the addition was veneer ground face block on metal stud framing. A large portion of the original buildings was covered with the ground face masonry. The Church decided to select their contractor on reputation and negotiate. The contractor established the construction budget. It was within $20,000 of the Design Team’s estimate. The negotiation process allowed the Contractor to become part of the Team. The relationships built trust and allowed, even during stressful periods, for the project to move forward. After completion of Construction, the final comment from the Congregation and the Church leadership was “It doesn’t look like an addition.”